2011 - How will you start the new decade?

I wrote recently about the need to focus more on solutions rather than on problems. If you spend all your time looking at (or worrying about) the problem, that doesn't leave you any time to find answers. Sometimes you don't have an answer, and you may need to ask a 'higher power' for a little guidance.

Which brings me to the final point I made in that letter; taking action. The truth is that no book, or system, or teaching will change your life . . . unless you take the lessons to heart and take action.

There's an old joke about a fellow who prays to God to win the lottery. After 5 years of praying with no results. this fellow asks God why he hasn't answered the prayer. This big voice replies, " Meet me half-way, Sam, buy a ticket!" Now its a joke (no offense intended), but there's a lesson there.

You can't research your way, or study your way, or 'vision' your way to success. You have to apply yourself to build the thing you envision.

"Common sense alert: This book will not make you a successful market gardener. The market gardening business is real work; no book alone can make you successful. You have to apply your brains, your motivation, and (yes) your hard work to take the lessons and the tools and apply them. You will get out of it what you put into it (but that's a good thing, right ? ;-)"

The 'fix yourself' industry is a huge business; have a peek at the 'self-help' section of your local bookstore sometime.

I'm not knocking these books and tapes and DVD's; I own a lot of them, and I use them. But if you read only, and then reach for the next guru's masterpiece without ever applying the lessons, you won't make a lot of progress. Part of the reason the industry is so huge is that most people do just that.

So (to bring it back to my topic) what will you do in 2011 to make the new decade better than the last one? Will you start a business of your own? Will you learn some new skills that could change your life? Will you get together with some friends and form a 'mastermind group' to help each other achieve your goals? Make your choice and make a start!